The Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission (EACC) has faulted county governments for failure to submit wealth declaration forms for workers at the devolved units.
According to the anti-graft body, only 19 County Public Service Boards (CPSB’s) out of 47 submitted the forms during the 2017 declarations.
The EACC Commissioner, Rose Macharia said the move was a big blow to the anti-corruption war emphasising that the documents were an important tool in the fight against the vice.
Macharia said only 17 counties have developed and gazetted procedures on wealth declaration with barely two months left to the deadline.
This, she said painted a grim picture of the exercise which is mandatory for all public officers to undertake after every two years.
Speaking at Tom Mboya Labour College on Monday in Kisumu during a sensitisation workshop for County Public Service Board Members from Western Kenya, Macharia attributed the noncompliance to lack of a legal framework to enforce the requirement.
“This is why we are asking the county governments to develop these regulations which stipulate what action shall be taken against officers who fail to fill and submit the forms like it is with the national government,” she said.
The Commissioner asked the county governments that have not prepared the procedures to do so before December 31 when the exercise ends.
She challenged the board members to entrench professionalism in recruitment of staff at the same time help in safeguarding public resources to give impetus to the fight against corruption.
Corruption, she said has penetrated all parts of the country and was a threat to health and security of the nation.
“Sometimes we are accused of arresting small persons but look at that police officer collecting Sh.50 from a bus which then causes an accident a kilometer away killing innocent lives,” she said.
The EACC, she said will continue to build partnerships with other agencies to ensure that the war on corruption is won.
By Chris Mahandara
